Elgar Parishad | 'We Knew': Gadling's Wife on 'Planted Evidence' Report

Minal Gadling said her husband was not granted bail even to perform the last rites of his mother.

It has been over three years since Surendra Gadling was first arrested in connection with the case.

(Image altered by The Quint)

Shortly after a report was released by an American forensic agency, claiming that incriminating evidence was ‘planted’ on the computer of Surendra Gadling, an incarcerated accused in the Bhima Koregaon case, his wife Minal told NDTV that they always knew the evidence was fabricated.

“We are not surprised,” said Minal, when asked about the report.

“Surendra had nothing to do with the case. He is a brave man who was very loyal to the profession. He used to work for the Adivasis, Dalits, poor, and underprivileged people. This entire episode was fabricated and we knew this from the very beginning.”

Minal Gadling

It has been over three years that Surendra was arrested in connection with the case.

WHAT ELSE DID MINAL GADLING CLAIM?

She told NDTV about how her husband was not granted bail, even to perform the last rites of his mother.

“Instead he was told that he was doing drama about his mother’s death in a bid to get bail,” Minal said, sharing that it was a time when COVID was peaking and, therefore, it was hard for them to immediately procure a death certificate for his mother.

THE AMERICAN FORENSIC AGENCY’S REPORT

The report by Arsenal Consulting, released just a day after incarcerated activist Father Stan Swamy’s death, pointed out that the 'evidence' was planted on Gadling’s computer using a malware.

The malware that targeted Gadling's computer via emails also had several other Bhima-Koregaon accused, including Swamy and Sudha Bhardwaj, copied on the mails, the forensic agency claimed.

The report comes just months after similar claims were made for another arrested activist Rona Wilson, who is also believed to be a victim of the same hackers who targeted Gadling.

Speaking to The Quint about the report, legal expert Mihir Desai said, "These people have always said that these documents do not belong to them. They have never seen or written them. So, this report actually goes to show that what these people were saying is correct, neither did these documents originate in their computer nor were they ever seen by the accused."

STAN SWAMY'S DEMISE

Father Stan Swamy, an accused in the Elgar Parishad case, died of cardiac arrest on Monday, 5 July, a day before his bail hearing. As his health deteriorated, 84-year-old Swamy was reportedly placed on ventilator support at Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital on Sunday, 4 July.

His colleague Father Joseph Xavier and his lawyer had earlier told the media that he was critical. Swamy also suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Swamy's death comes amid several prolonged efforts to secure his bail amid his deteriorating health.

Swamy was arrested from his Jharkhand residence by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in October 2020 for his alleged links with Naxals and the banned CPI (Maoists).

(With inputs from NDTV.)